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Adobe peels off Flash layers for open source

Money move

Adobe Systems has open-sourced two pieces of Flash technology to build community buy-in around its media player.

Today, the company announced the release of the Open Source Media Framework (OSMF) and Text Layout Framework (TLF) under version 1.1 of the Mozilla Public License.

TLF is an ActionScript library that's been built on Flash Player 10's text engine and Adobe AIR 1.5, providing typographic and text layout for the web. It's been used in the NYTimes.com Reader 2.0 and Boston GlobeReader.

OSMF is part of Strobe, announced by Adobe in April to simplify the addition of the kinds of components and features to Flash-based players that can help developers make money from media.

Strobe's goal is to establish what Adobe called an "open industry standard" for software components that plug into Flash players, in areas such as ads, user measurement, tracking, and social networking.

Adobe said Tuesday that OSMF will initially focus on transport controls for the implementation of ad servers and features for quality of service, plus there will be support for features in Adobe Flash Media Server 3.5 such as Dynamic Streaming and DVR functionality.

"The community will be able to develop plug-ins for OSMF to support additional custom functionality," according to an Adobe FAQ.

Adobe was at pains to stress that OMF complements - rather than treading on the toes of - the Open Video Player Initiative (OVP) spearheaded by Adobe and Akamai. OVP claims its goal is to create best practices and reference implementations and to encourage the adoption of "open standards" around the development of video players.

OVP is also supported by Microsoft, which is challenging Flash with Silverlight. OVP was created through the donation of Akami's media framework that utilized broad industry technologies such as Media RSS.

"The next version of OVP for Flash will incorporate the full framework and player of the OSMF code," Adobe said. ®

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